Warfare was the art of deception: profiting from both sides without spending a single soldier
The wind whipped up the snow piled up under the eaves, making it sway wildly, and the copper bells hanging from the eaves jingled incessantly.
Liu Ruyan stepped over the threshold, raised her hand and closed the lattice door tightly, blocking out all the cold wind.
She walked to the long table and laid the waxed paper, which still smelled faintly of mugwort, flat on it.
The paper was extremely thin, and densely covered with tiny, delicate regular script characters.
"Your Highness, this was just delivered by Hongxiu from the Foot Care Hall."
Liu Ruyan rolled up her sleeve slightly, her fingertip touching the top of the paper:
" Anyang is in chaos. Grain prices jumped three times in one day, and displaced people are smashing shops. And there's this news too..."
Gu Moran was twirling the jade ruler in his hand, his gaze following her fingertips downwards.
"The military governor of Yong Prefecture secretly dispatched three thousand cavalry, who have already passed White Water Pass and are advancing south towards Bronze Gorge."
He finished reading the line, his tone calm, without a trace of anger.
At the other end of the table, Yun Shuyue was chewing on a poria cocos cake with her cheeks puffed out, her wrists resting on the edge of the table.
Meng Jiuning was holding a half-bowl of hot porridge and drinking it.
Upon hearing the words " Yong Prefecture," the porcelain spoon in my hand clattered against the rim of the bowl.
Her gaze swept over the dark patterns at the bottom of the wax paper.
It was a monogram formed by three thin lines passing through a crescent moon.
Apart from a few hereditary marquisates who commanded troops, no one else in the Kingdom of Dali had ever even seen them.
Meng Jiuning's wrist twitched, and the porcelain spoon slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.
She hurriedly reached out to grab it, and the scalding hot rice porridge splashed onto the back of her hand, burning a small patch red, but she was completely unaware.
"This mark, the way it's drawn..."
Meng Jiuning's voice was strained.
Before she could finish her question, Gu Moran casually pulled out a thick ledger and threw it in front of her.
On the opened page, two lines of text were circled in red ink: "30,000 taels of silver for medicinal herbs from Liangguang and Guangxi" and "5,000 catties of pig iron transported via smuggled trade routes in the south."
"You've reviewed eight hundred pages of accounts, so focused on lamenting the empty treasury, that you haven't even considered where all that pig iron and medicinal herbs went?"
Gu Moran picked up the hot tea and gently skimmed off the foam with the lid:
"Those two marquises of Dali are far more shrewd than you."
Meng Jiuning fiddled with the lining of her cuff, explaining in a low voice, "They... they only said they were borrowing troops to hold off the Tubo."
"Borrowing troops?"
Gu Moran smiled and placed the teacup back on the table:
" The Tubo army marched south and destroyed the border fortresses left by your father."
If the Dali royal family were truly crushed, the two marquises would be the happiest.
By using barbarians to kill all the loyal ministers, they can then legitimately take over the court. What a brilliant performance!
A fine layer of sweat appeared on Meng Jiuning's nose, and she bit her lip tightly.
Gu Moran tapped his fingers twice on the table:
The letter from the Flower-Between Pavilion clearly stated that the three iron mines and two salt routes south of Dali had long been promised to the military governor of Yong Prefecture.
The troops in Yong Prefecture guarded a vital passage Liangguang, and had long been keeping an eye on the trade routes in the Southern Territory.
Their troop deployment this time is ostensibly for defense, but in reality, it's to cut off all escape routes for your two lords from Dali to the east.
Gu Moran looked up at her:
"Once the foundation of the royal family is broken, Tubo will occupy the north, Yong Prefecture will take over salt and iron, and the two marquises will sit on the throne."
You led your men on a long escape to Yi Prefecture seeking help, little did you know that the entire wealth of Dali had already been sold off at a price.
No one spoke for a moment, except for the occasional crackling of the charcoal fire in the hearth.
Yun Shuyue forgot to swallow the pastry in her mouth and turned to ask in a low voice, " Sister Meng... are the marquises in your family really that heartless?"
Meng Jiuning's chest heaved violently a few times.
She originally thought the Marquis's family only wanted to compete for the throne, but she never expected that they would dare to collude with Yong Prefecture and sell off all the pig iron and salt routes.
No wonder the eastern checkpoints were completely sealed off, forcing her to flee Jiannan across the snow-capped mountains.
Meng Jiuning suddenly stood up, her knee hitting the corner of the table and hurting painfully, but she didn't bother to rub it.
He grabbed the wolf-hair brush from the table, dipped it in thick ink, and quickly wrote a string of place names and personal names on the blank Xuan paper.
"Those two companies Dali Liangguang and Guangxi, named Tongyuan, Hengli, and Guangju."
Meng Jiuning threw down her pen, braced herself on the table with both hands, and her eyes reddened:
"These two companies relied on these three money shops to smuggle salt and pig iron, with at least 300,000 taels of silver and 20,000 bolts of raw silk from the South Sea Pearls locked up inside."
"If Your Highness is willing to send troops to stop the Yong Prefecture cavalry again, I will give you all the accounts and seals of these three money houses!"
Gu Moran picked up the paper and looked at it by the candlelight.
"Three hundred thousand taels of silver is indeed a considerable sum."
He folded the Xuan paper and handed it to Su Yao, his expression remaining calm.
"However, why should I risk my life for you?"
Meng Jiuning was stunned. "Your Highness..."
" Yi Prefecture now needs to repair water conservancy projects, cultivate land, and prepare grain. The battle at Bronze Gorge has just ended, and I just helped Dali send troops to resist the Tubo."
Gu Moran leaned back on the cushion:
"Now you're going to war again? War means death, and death means money to pay for compensation."
"To risk the lives of Yi Prefecture's soldiers against our Great Yan southern forces in exchange for three money houses that could be emptied out at any moment—this is a losing proposition for me."
The light in Meng Jiuning's eyes gradually faded, and she slumped back into her chair, her lips bitten until they turned white.
"So... is Dali truly at the mercy of others?"
"Who told you that you have to use knives and guns to get things done?"
Gu Moran stood up and walked to the topographic map hanging on the wall.
My fingertip rested on the red line where Liangguang and Jiannan meet Jiannan:
" Yong Prefecture is damp and rife with miasma year-round, and what the army lacks most are herbs to dispel dampness and relieve pain, as well as liniments for bruises and sprains; while the two marquises of Dali have large private armies, their iron quotas have been restricted by the imperial court, and they are in dire need of fine iron to forge armor."
Gu Moran withdrew his hand and turned to look at Su Yao and Liu Ruyan.
One is lacking medicine, and the other is lacking iron.
"The vital points are all laid bare, why should I waste a single soldier?"
Su Yao abruptly stopped the abacus in her hand, the beads crisply returning to their positions:
"Does Your Highness intend to... use the medicine shop and the newly mined refined iron in Bronze Gorge to make a double profit?"
In the study, the silver charcoal brazier on the desk burned extremely brightly, and the heat softened the window paper.
Su Yao tucked the abacus into the crook of her arm, and the copper beads clashed together, producing a series of crisp sounds.
"What are Your Highness's plans for the south?"
Gu Moran placed the cinnabar brush on the inkstone and looked up at Liu Ruyan.
"Issue two secret orders from the Chamber of Commerce."
"The first step is to send a message to the Hundred Herbs Hall and all the herbal medicine shops in the south of the city."
Gu Moran remained calm.
"Starting today, the market prices of all raw medicinal herbs used for preventing dampness and cold, and for promoting blood circulation and relieving pain, including Chuanxiong, Cangzhu, Rougui, and Sanqi, will all increase."
Liu Ruyan smoothed out the wrinkles on her sleeve and replied softly.
"We can also work at the Foot Care Hall."
"Yes, the 'Muscle-Relaxing and Cold-Dispelling Decoction' medicine packet prepared by the Foot Care Hall is now five times the original price."
Gu Moran picked up the warm tea and took a sip.
"Then have all the shopkeepers spread the word that Anyang is in chaos and that Prince An is secretly requisitioning military supplies and medicinal herbs on a large scale."
" The Yi Prefecture Chamber of Commerce is raising funds. In half a month, they are willing to pay a large sum for the raw medicine, as much as they can get, with cash settlement and no delays."